Extraordinary LIVES
DAD was one of six children raised in Cullercoats, now in North Tyneside, right by the Watch House on the north side of the beach. He wasn’t too keen on school, but loved to spend all his time at the seashore. Hilda, his wife of 58 years, was a local lass and they always said they were made for each other. They made friends everywhere they went, and were often seen walking hand in hand along the seafront. When children came knocking on the door, it wasn’t just my brother, Garry, or me they were looking for. ‘Is Mr Bell coming out to play?’ they would say, and invariably the answer was: ‘Yes.’ We would pick up other kids along the way and have great fun playing rounders on the back field until we were all exhausted. Dad taught judo at Preston Grange community centre, so all the children who lived on the estate knew him. When we were children, Dad
worked as a fitter in the shipyards at Wallsend. Unfortunately, the dangers of asbestos were not widely known back then. Apparently, the lads would mess around and make snowballs of asbestos to throw at each other. Dad later worked on the Brent Delta oil rig in the North Sea — shifts of two weeks on and two weeks at home. When my parents moved to Tynemouth, Dad bought a small motorboat.
He would spend all his spare time diving, fishing and taking the family out for rides. He loved spending time with his four grandsons on the beach and in the park. We had many family gettogethers and Dad was always the life and soul of the party. He was a good laugh and adored seeing the children. He was just a big kid at heart — I will always remember him, aged 77, on a bouncy castle with my two sons. Sadly, his early working life with asbestos resulted in a diagnosis of mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer, at the age of 78. At his funeral, instead of flowers, we asked his friends to make donations to the British Lung Foundation. Life is not the same without him, but we have so many happy memories of Dad, a true gent who would do anything for anyone.
MARTIN BELL, born May 11, 1939; died July 3, 2019, aged 80.